1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for harvesting citrus from trees and for conveying the harvested fruit to a truck for haulage and more particularly pertains to harvesting fruit from citrus trees in a continuous and automatic cycle of operation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of fruit pickers and conveyors is known in the prior art. More specifically, fruit pickers and conveyors heretofore devised and utilized for the purpose of facilitating harvesting are known to consist basically of familiar, expected, and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which has been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,529 issued Aug. 29, 1989 to Peterson et al., and assigned to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture, discloses a shaking mechanism for fruit harvesting. In such mechanism, fingers extend radially outwardly from rotatable shafts with supplemental motion allowing an arcuate movement of the shafts. Such arcuate movement, as compared to the linear movement of the present invention, is deficient in that it reduces the area of a tree wherein the fruit removing forces are minimized.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not describe a system for harvesting citrus from trees and for conveying the harvested fruit to a truck for haulage that allows for a continuous and automatic cycle of operation.
In this respect, the system for harvesting citrus from trees and for conveying the harvested fruit to a truck for haulage according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of functioning in a continuous and automatic cycle of operation.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new and improved system a system for harvesting citrus from trees and for conveying the harvested fruit to a truck for haulage which can be used to remove fruit from citrus trees. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.